Heart Strings
by Poisonedheart23
Summary: Sari goes to Nevada to work for Leeland bishop: What starts as a perfect romance soon turns into something that could claim both their humanity. How far can they go before they lose everything they care for just for the sake of finding something that can make them feel human again? WARNING: Sex in later chapters. Rated M for a reason!


**Welcome to another exciting fanfiction! This time, I'm going to be focusing more on the humans than I am on the bots. Sari and Silas to be exact (don't ask me how I cam up with those two, it was a very random pairing at the time). I'm hoping this one will be as successful as my last one. This one is going to be a doozy. Since I have nothing but time, I'll probably spend a lot more time writing than anything. That is when I got nothing better to do. **

**Anyway enough of the babbling, Here's another transformers fanfiction!**

**-0-**

"_Let's talk about the facts here: The man beat her, she had to go to the hospital because it was so bad. After about a year, the woman gets back with him. Why? Why would a perfectly sensible woman go back to that monster? Why would anyone do that? She knows it's wrong, she knows what he did to her, why, why, why would she go back?"_

"_There is something you don't know about women in an abusive relationship. She is not at fault here. When you get into that type of situation, first of all, is you don't even realize it. The man plays you, manipulates you, he just draws you in and snatches your heart."_

"_But how can she not see it? That woman is so bright and intelligent-"_

"_That's another thing. No matter how smart you are, you'll never be able to see it. Domestic violence can only be seen from an outside view..."_

A hand came up and pressed a button, changing the channel on the car. It tweeked at the knob, changing stations and trying to find one to it's liking. Once it hit a certain station, pop music began to play, and the hand drew away and placed itself back on the steering wheel.

"Play something a little more upbeat," said the driver, transfixing her eyes to the road.

It was a marvelous day. Back in hometown Detroit, Michigan, there would have been snow on the ground and people walking the streets with winter coats on. Here in Nevada, it was warm and clear, not a soul in sight as the woman behind the wheel drove down the vast empty highway from the small town Jasper to into the its grand, but tiny forested area.

"Don't see why they have to be in the middle of nowhere. They're plenty of empty places in that town... They could have set up dad's projects there."

The pigtailed redhead tapped her wheel in the rhythm of the music, each beat was a tap, and she hummed along with the lyrics, enjoying the view of the towering trees. She's been in the car for hours now, and is frankly getting tired from the drive.

"At least the view is nice..." She said quietly.

Her phone began to ring then. Softly swearing to herself as she turned her music off, she picked up her phone and answered it.

"Hey daddy," She chimed.

"Hello Sari," greeted a heavily India accented voice, "are you almost there?"

"I think so," Sari said questioningly. "Are you sure you gave me the right directions? This place seems really out of place for your projects."

"They're right," he clarified. "This was the location that he wanted to work in."

"Why?"

"Something about keeping the civilians safe. I don't seem to remember, but I know he had a good reason. Now make sure you are polite, and that remember that you are there for strictly business..."

"I know daddy, I know..."

"Don't forget to call me every night. You know where your motel room is, don't you?"

"I know daddy, I know. You don't have to worry about me. I'm 21-years-old now. I'm a big girl."

"But you're still my little baby, I don't want anything bad happening to you."

"Nothing bad will happen to me, I'll be surrounded by men who can protect me. And I know how to defend myself. Plus, I'm out in the middle of no where. The worst that can happen to me is I trip and scrape my knee on a rock. I wish I had some cooler clothes though, it's like 78 here, and it's still noon... I didn't even think it would be _this _warm..."

"You have to remember that you are in Nevada, it's nothing like Michigan. Do you want me to send some of your summer clothes down there?"

"Nah, it's fine. I brought some extra money with me, I'll just buy some. Oh, here we are."

Within the forest was two hangers, both of them looking very military like and have letters painted right under the roofs: ME, on one, and CH on the other. Sari pulled into a cleared area, where there was cement and painted lines for her to park. As she turned off the car, she noticed that she could only hear the sounds of birds and the wind through the leaves. This place was very far from any kind of civilization. Hopefully, there was a very good explanation for why this man wanted to be all the way out in the middle of the forest.

"So what is this guys name again?" Something something right?" Asked Sari.

"Leland Bishop," he father corrected. "He's a very interesting man, use to be in the military..."

"I thought we weren't funding military projects."

"We're not, Sari. He's taking on artificial intelligence and some of my other smaller house security projects. I'm hoping you can help out with it and keep me updated on their progress since they're so far away."

Sari nodded. "Alright, I'm gonna let you go. He knows I'm here, right?"

"I called him and informed him on your arrival," her father said. "Now have a good day."

"You too daddy, love you."

"Love you too Sari!"

Hanging up her phone, Sari proceeded to exit her car, relieving her to be sporting professional clothing which consisted of a skirt that reached her fingertips, a white shirt and a warm-brown jacket. As she straightened her jacket out, she entered the building with the ME on the front, her flats clicking on the pavement.

Inside of the building still had the military type atmosphere as the outside did. There were mostly men in lab coats, and some with casual jeans and a long sleeve shirt. The main room was dark, very poorly lit, and had about three doors on each side of the room, two of which was a mens and ladies room. The others were labeled 'break room,' 'computer room,' 'office' and 'storage room'. Unlike her fathers workplace, it was very bland. At least her father did his best to make his office and testing area's come to life. Here, it was very straightforward, no nonsense building. There were many different projects going on, some on desks, others on the floor, each of the projects sectioned off by either standing walls, machines that hung from the ceiling, or lines on the ground. For the most part, it looked well kept and very clean, minus the drops of oil and rust stains on the ground around the machines. Men and few women worked on projects that Sari was familiar with, plus some more her father must have newly assigned before she was informed, or at least wasn't at the Sumdac Tower back in Detroit. Sari wasn't sure, but it seemed very small to be funded for, especially for a big thing as Artificial intelligence. Maybe there was more in the other hanger. The one with the CH on the front did appear slightly bigger, but she didn't expect it to be much different.

It made Sari a little nervous, being inside. She was so use to a cheerful, light environment. Something seemed very off-putting, but that could have been just the style of the room. Not thinking much of it, she went to one of the working men and tapped his shoulder, receiving a mild response of him turning around, instantly sizing her up.

"Where can I find Leland Bishop?" Sari asked. The man took a moment, almost as if he wasn't familiar with the name.

Finally, he responded: "You can find him in his office right over there." The man pointed to the room labeled 'office,' between the 'computer room' and 'storage room.'

Keeping her back straight, she went over to the door, weaving her path through all the projects that were presented on the floor, and knocked.

"Come in," came a modulated voice through the door.

Sari opened the door, letting herself inside. The Office was still as cold in style as the rest of the place, very bereft indeed. A man with white hair and scars on his face sat at a desk, tapping away at a computer, looking up to see the woman at his door.

"Ms. Sumdac," he said, "I was beginning to wonder where you were."

"It's one of the cons of living out in the middle of the forest I suppose," said Sari in a light tone. "You must be Leland. Mr. Bishop, I mean."

"That I am," he confirmed. "You may take a seat if you wish."

With a little nod, Sari walked up to the thick chair at the end of the desk, and sat down. As she straightened her skirt and jacket, she pulled out a little hand held digital note pad and a stylist, to jot down some of the important notes. Mr. Bishop set his elbows on the table and cupped his hands together, and then put his mouth to his thumbs, watching her with obvious interest, She may be dressed as a professional business woman, but her hair gave away her true personality of being quirky and fun. Not to mention her small figure caught his attention. Though Sari was small, she still had a bit of a curve to her hips. Subtle, but there. Both of them were a great contrast of each other. Mr. Bishop was all around light, robust, and aged like honey. They were almost the perfect opposites.

"Alright," Ms. Sumdac began, "lets get down to business, Mr. Bishop." She set her stylist on her digital note pad. "First of all, tell me if you got done with any projects, any projects at all."

"The Jabberwackey your father requested is almost complete." Leland stated. "Were still trying to install all the mods on there, we only have the therapeutic mod and the teacher mod is proving to be quite difficult. Both of them are glitching in us, but we believe we figured out the cause, so it should be done by the end of the week."

"And what of the Cog?" She then asked.

"That is still far from being done. It's very hard to program a bot to study something a human does not know."

"I can understand that, and P.A.N?"

"That is fully complete. It was one of the more intelligible projects we had. In fact, That was one of the first projects we got done, though it was not the first one we started."

Sari jotted that down, writing quickly with chicken scratch handwriting. Asking him a few more about the projects she knows about, she wrote down the important details in a style Leland couldn't even read. Pray to God Sari can look at this later and interpret it.

"I saw that you had some projects I did not recognize," pigtails pointed out. "What were those?"

"I don't know if you're aware," began the white haired man, "but my men have been able to fully utilize your fathers funding. Before you jump to conclusions, no, we are not buying cheap parts. We simply have a full proof system, and since we have extra money to work with, we took on some other projects, some of our own projects."

"Like what? I feel that I have the right to know."

"And you do. They're just some small projects, one is the Blue Brain project, were we are attempting to reverse engineer the human brain to it's molecular level, the other is Artificial Intelligence Logic Electronic Emulation Neural Network, or A.I.L.E.E.N. That is to name a few."

"And my father has been informed of this?"

"Of course, Mr. Sumdac fully supports our projects."

"Alright, I see no problem with them if my father is okay with it."

"There is nothing to worry about, Ms. Sumdac, we are a very clean facility here. Upright and efficient at best."

Sari nodded, and momentarily put away her digital pad. "Sorry to cut this meeting short, but there is a few things I need to do before I end my day. I would like to talk to you more, preferably outside of the work zone so we may discuss some things."

"If you wish, when and where?"

"I'm thinking tomorrow. Umm... do you have maybe a coffee shop around?"

"That we do, right in the middle of town of Jasper, it's called the Steam and Brew."

"I'll be sure to look it up. How does noon sound?"

"Sounds perfect to me." He flashed a smile, and offered his hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you ms. Sumdac."

Taking his hand, she agreed with him: "And it was a pleasure meeting you too. I'll be out in the main room if you have anything you want to ask me."

"I'll be sure to bring it up to you if I do."

With that being said, Sari went out and proceeded to help out along with some of the projects that were near completion. Working hard, she didn't create any small talk amongst the other workers, seeming how no one seem to be interested in what she had to say, none the less what she was planning to do. The most words she said to any of the workers was 'let me see that,' 'I think I know what's wrong,' and 'hang on I got this.' Leland never came out of his office, apparently he didn't have any more questions for the daughter of the man who was funding their projects. At the end of the day, she didn't make any new friends, none the less learned anyone's name. The sun started to set as she got into her car and left for her motel room. It was 9:00 P.M when she got there. Luckily, the motel was very nice. Quaint, but nice. It bared all the essentials, such as a full size bed, a large fridge, an electric stove, a microwave, counter space, and a tiny bathroom with a shower that was up to par. This was a little less than what she was use too, which was luxurious showers, larger beds and a lot of room, but she will have to make do since she will be staying here for a while.

Once she walked through the door, Sari locked it behind her, shut all the blinds, and threw her bags to the corner. She fished out a large baggy t-shirt and commenced to take off her clothes and throwing the large white shirt over her when she was reduced to her underwear.

Instinctively, she looked in the fridge. There were only bottles of water in there; no food. Taking one of the bottles of water, she cracked it open and flopped herself on the bed, kicking back, thinking a early start to sleep tonight was a good idea. After she set her water on the night stand beside the bed, she did just that.

(0)_(0)

**The Next day:**

After getting up, Sari decided that today, she was going to sport her usual sleeved, sunflower colored dress. Wasn't like she was going to any place professional, it was just a coffee shop. Once she slipped on her comfortable sneakers, she headed out. It took a while to find the little building, it was about five minutes until noon when she got there. Already, she saw Leland inside, waiting with a cup of what seems to be plain black coffee.

_'Gee, I hope I didn't keep him waiting,' _Sari thought. She got out of her car, and walked inside. A few people glanced at her, making it plain and clear that she was not from around here. The coffee shop looked like any other, small interior, some artsy décor of coffee cups, small tables with two chairs, four if they were lucky, with mocha colored walls along with a warm-red-brick wall paper.

Sari took a seat opposite of Leland. "Sorry to have kept you waiting." She apologized.

"No need to worry, I was not here long," he assured. "Now, getting down to business, what is this meeting about?"

"I really want to talk to you about how your branch is running," explained Sari. "It's very... well, very different than what my father runs. I know you came from a military background, but I honestly believe you can benefit with a lighter atmosphere. Not to mention all your workers are very no nonsense. None of them would not even talk to me while I was helping on the floor."

"I have to beg your pardon." Bishop interrupted, "but I fail to see why that would be a problem. My men are dedicated workers. There is nothing wrong with devoted people. I understand it's not what you're use too—"

"Definitely not."

"—but I can assure you, this is the best method of production for our line of work."

"Still, maybe the place could use a little paint job."

Leland had to chuckle. "The men are just fine in their environment ms. Sumdac, there is no need to change what's not broken."

"Alright, I still feel... well... never mind. Let's move onto the next topic."

"And that would be—one moment I need some coffee, a vanilla latte sounds really good right now—but I feel like I can offer more assistance to your personal projects, if you would let me." She waved down a waitresses and ordered her cup of coffee.

"And what could you offer that would benefit me?" he asked.

"Well I do have a profile with robots. I worked on plenty of projects myself, and I contributed a lot to the company. I could improve your production if you would let me work with you—thank you miss." Sari took a sip of her iced latte, letting out a pleased moan. "This taste great..."

"I'm sure it does," he said. "I have to disappoint you, but I feel that there will be no need to personally assist with the projects, but I'll keep the offer in mind just in case something happens and I require your aid. There is, however, two things I must ask from you."

"And what would that be Mr. Bishop?"

"Please, call me Lee. There is no need for formality in a facility such as this."

"Alright," Sari smiled. "What do you want from me, Lee?"

"First of all, I do need assistance at organizing some of your fathers projects, and it would be of great help if you were to keep them in mind."

"Alright, I can do that. Sounds easy enough. And the second thing?"

"Well, my weekends free; could I trouble you for another date?"

Sari almost choked. "A date? With me? Lee, I... I have to decline. I really shouldn't date you..."

"And why is that?"

"Well, we're partners."

"Yes, and your point?"

"Lee you're a very handsome man, and if we weren't working together... let me start over. My father would kill me if I dated you."

"Why would he do that?"

"He's just that kind of man."

"Then he won't know about it. We just won't tell him."

"It's not that simple..."

"And why not?"

"It's just not."

"I need an example."

"I can't... think of one right off the top of my head."

"Then there is no need to worry. Uhp—before you say anything else, it is possible to have both a professional and a romantic relationship at the same time."

Sari considered this, biting her lip. "I don't know..."-she took a sip of her latte- "Let me think about it... I... I never had a guy ask me out before."

"Glad to have been your first." Lee stood up, finishing his black coffee. "I'm afraid I must go, I have projects I should be finishing." He fished though his pocket, and pulled out a pen, writing down a series of numbers on a napkin. "You can reach me at this number. Let me know what your answer is after you considered this for a while."

Sari just nodded. "Have a good day..."

"You too, Sari." Then, he left.

After he left, Sari sat for a while, unable to finish her drink. Tipping the waitress, she took her leave and headed back to the motel room. Everything was skipping through her mind; on one hand, she hardly knew the man. It wouldn't be very moral of her if she just said yes right of the get go. On the other hand, what did she care? He seemed nice, and it would be a good way to get to know him. It was not like they were going to jump the gun on the first date. But what of her father? How will he react? Lee did make a point that he didn't have to know about their relationship but what if he found out? He'd be furious!

Thinking long and hard, Sari took everything in consideration, plus some. She weighed every option, every consequence and outcome, until she thought: _Why am I thinking so hard about this? Why is this such a big deal? It's a date for crying out loud! I shouldn't be so worried about what my father thinks... What's the worse that could happen?_

With that in mind, she picked out her cell phone, and dialed the number that Lee had given her. Night had fallen by this point, and she hoped that she wasn't too late.

"Sari," came a voice from her phone. "I was beginning to wonder when you would call me."

"Sorry," she said. "I had a lot to think about."

"So I can trust this isn't just a business call?"

"No, I promise..." Sari took a deep breath, feeling at a loss for words all of a sudden.

"So what's your answer?" He pressed. "Yes I hope."

"Yes..." she confirmed. "It's a yes."

-0

**END OF CHAPTER ONE! I will warn you all right now I'm gonna take my time with the next chapter. I'll try not to be too long, I will work pretty hard on it, but you'll have to wait. **

**But make sure you leave a review in the mean time! Let me know what you think! Please and Thank you!**


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